Tuesday, July 1, 2014

A Little Family Time

The Millers are back from a long weekend at the beach and I really have nothing profound to say because my mind has been in neutral for the last several days, but here goes what I do have. Carson got off the church bus from his youth trip to San Antonio and we threw him and his dirty laundry in the car and headed to the beach, so this was him pretty much the whole way. I think it was safe to say that he'd had enough road travel for one day.

I have to share this before we proceed to the beach part of my post.......Last week, while Carson was gone, I got a text from him saying that our verbal consent was needed by the chaperone in order for him to purchase a Bowie knife at the Alamo gift shop. "Sure", I agreed as in my mind, I'd pictured a small, pocket sized replica of the famous Jim Bowie's knife....until I got this picture after the purchase......in which it looked more like a murder weapon that had been recovered from a dumpster and taken into evidence on an episode of The First 48. I have no idea what we will do with this unless an occasion arises in which we need to skin something or kill an intruder. Both of those scenarios come up an awful lot around here.

So we get to the beach and there have been a large number of sharks in the Gulf Coast area over the last few weeks, so we were a little leery of the water. The sharks certainly did not disappoint, I tell you, as there was a 15' hammerhead lurking around the first day and a bull shark the next. Davis, the country boy/Mississippi State Ag graduate is always eager to learn more about nature as well as its predators and so he struck up a conversation with the lifeguard. Davis relayed his words of advice........" if you're in the water and see a shark, you should remain calm and stand still as lots of movements make you appear more seal-like". Ok, I can do that....if by "remain calm and stand still" you mean scream like a little girl as I thrash my limbs about spastically and splash my way back to the shore.....not a problem. Davis' shirt kept us reminded all day of shark encounter protocol.

She and I enjoyed a nice couple of days relaxing on the beach, while the boys fished and played various forms of ball. I once relished basking in the sun and watching my skin turn deeper and deeper shades of bronze, but I've given it up since I had a large chunk of flesh removed from my arm this year by the dermatologist. I now plant myself under the umbrella and am resolved to embrace the lighter skin tones of my Scottish, Irish roots.....with just enough sunless tanner to prevent me from blending in with the sand. And my consistent response to sweets this summer, "don't mind if I do", also showed. I know I'm a 46 year old woman and shouldn't be taking selfies on the beach, but I couldn't help myself.

In keeping with fourteen year old male's fascination with flatulence, Carson adopted Frozen's, "Let it Go" as his theme song for the trip. I'm sure that when the beautiful song was written for Disney, they never imagined the lyrics would one day be twisted and sung in reference to intestinal gas........

"Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go,

Turn away and slam the door!

I don't care

what they're going to say....
Couldn't keep it in
Heaven knows I tried......

It's time to see what I can do!"

Look at him. He looks so innocent here.

Beach trips are always a great time to get a few family pictures and it's really good to prepare ahead of time on what everyone is going to wear, but if you're perimenopausal and have the memory of a fruit fly......you just put on whatever's in the suitcase and grab a capable looking tourist to snap your picture. As usual, we saw a lot of families being photographed professionally in their white/khaki or white/denim matching ensembles, but I think the families who are still doing this are the ones who have yet to hear about the red/turquoise/black/blue craze. I think after everyone sees this color combination, it will catch on like wildfire and the white/khaki deal will quickly become blasé.

I have always loved the beach, but age seems to have diminished my patience for heat, sand in all of my crevices, and lugging 30 pounds of gear through two miles of scorching sand. I'm starting to see myself as more of a mountain girl. With hell being hot, I feel my opinion about heat has some validation.......indeed, it must the most torturous of all of the temperatures.

No trip to the coast would be complete without a stop by Sephora for Blair. "Mom, how much longer are we going to be here at this awful store?" Carson moaned painfully. "Just as soon as your sister finds just the right makeup brush out of the 400 displayed here and then the best color concealer to match her skin tone perfectly out of these 45 choices". "Blair, can't you just get some concealer at Wal-Mart?", a puzzled, thrifty Davis chimes in. "Dad, if you wear $3.00 concealer, you will look like you're wearing $3.00 concealer", Blair replies profoundly. So, there you have it.....a little cosmetic philosophy from our house to yours.

My stomach is literally sore from all the laughing we did. I guess when you live with people, your senses of humor all become in sync. It's highly likely that no one else would find us to be as funny as.....well......we do. I guess you could say we really enjoy us.

We like to think that this is the way it will always be......Davis and I taking the kids on little vacations every year, but I know that it won't be too many years before they start going their own way.....with jobs and deadlines and kids and vacations of their own. Our family trips will too soon become just pictures in a box.

The busyness of life can fool us into thinking that things will always be like they are now.

9 comments:

I have to say how much I am enjoying your blog! Ever since Boomama linked to your post about Casey Kasem I have been hooked. I feel kind of like a stalker because I had to go back and read all of your archives. I have gotten many much-needed laughs in the last few days thanks to you! I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite post but the mammogram post and the dreaded pharmaceutical commercial one are probably some of my top cotenders. :) I have three teenagers and cringe when commercials come on! Glad you had a good getaway.

Okay, a little off topic, but I love your daughter's striped shirt (dress?) (coverup?) that she is wearing in the Sephora picture (at least, I love what I can see of it!). Do you guys know where it was purchased?

I like to get off topic, Dawn :) I got Blair to fill me in on the little dress when she got home today. She got it last year at a locally owned boutique and the tag just says "Joyce". It's very cute, but that's all the info I've got on it.